Pope Benedict All But Says I Am Not A Crook Refuses To Resign, by Bridgette P LaVictoire, Lez Get Real, March 28, 2010

Pope Benedict All but Says " I Am Not a Crook": Refuses to Resign

By Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Lez Get Real
March 28, 2010

http://lezgetreal.com/?p=29703&cpage=1

Pope Benedict has signaled that he plans on hunkering down and refuses to be pushed out of the Papacy despite growing evidence that people are reluctant to stay in the Church because of the child molestation scandal. Pope Benedict stated in his sermon opening Holy Week, which began today with Palm Sunday, that God can lead one "towards the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion." What Pope Benedict seems to miss is any actual taking of responsibility for his own actions, or lack there of.

Pope Benedict is a man who is stuck somewhere around the 15th Century, when the Roman Catholic Church was the dominant power in Europe and any deviation from doctrine would be met with, if necessary, force. During this time, heretics were burned en masse.

As Archbishop of Munich and later Prefect of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was more interested in absolute obedience to the dogma of the Church than he was in rooting out priests who preyed on the weak and innocent. He also showed little interest in the running of the Church in Munich, or of his duties ensuring Church discipline other than to root out heresy.

Showing an adept ability at blindered vision, Pope Benedict offered a prayer to "the young and those who work to educate and protect them." Never mind that the most recent example of his disinterest in pursuing child molesters abused and molested some 200 children, many of them deaf boys at a school. Given that so many of the ones who work to educate and protect these children are the ones preying on them and molesting them, Pope Benedict may want to realize that his prayer just shows how out of touch with reality and the current situation Pope Benedict is.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, whose cathedral stands opposite Westminster Abby, stated "The Pope won't resign. Frankly, there's no strong reason for him to do so. In fact it's the other way around: he is the one above all else in Rome who has tackled these things head on." Of course, he has done this by saying that it is homosexual men who are behind the abuses even though roughly one third of all child molestation cases within the Church are of girls. He certainly has not done anything major about trying to solve this problem. His last attempt to reconcile this issue in Ireland resulted in a massive backlash over the fact that he, in essence, told the Catholics in that nation that they were to blame for the scandal and not the priests, bishops and cardinals who perpetrated and covered this whole thing up.

The Vatican has vehemently denied any wrong doing with regards to Reverend Lawrence Murphy, who molested around 200 young boys. While Pope Benedict may not have done anything to cover it up, he certainly did not do anything to rectify the situation. This amounts to negligence.

While supporters of Pope Benedict point to a few situations that, as Pope, he has been stern with child molesters, his lack of action prior to that is being brought into question, as is his true commitment to this issue. There are, currently, ten people assigned to investigate child molestation cases in the world. While the investigations are costly due to travel, etc, the Church has cut this staff down to minimal while it pays to ensure and enshrine discriminations against gays, lesbians, and transpeople.

And now for some additional information from LGR's Paula Brooks:

Paula Brooks, publisher of Lez Get Real, has called for a rally in Raleigh Durham, NC. to support of the victims and survivors of those abuse by the Church.

Said Brooks, "It's time we call this man out … he is not a man of Christ, because if he was, he'd know what Christ said about those who hurt children. He promotes nothing more then saving the Church's reputation." Brooks added. "It is also time we call out all who make excuses for this man as the enablers they are."

Brooks say she plans to time her protests for Easter Week Masses.

Any inquiries should be directed to Paula at paula@lezgetreal

Also, in Minnesota, there is a call out against an upcoming speech by Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, who was central in the Prop 8 battle. Please see The rosary vs. the ring finger: St. Paul, Minnesota edition for details.